A former Biden administration official has been placed in charge of scrutinizing whether New York Citys own agencies are sufficiently resisting federal immigration enforcement, in a move that has alarmed law enforcement advocates and raised fresh questions about public safety.
According to Newsmax, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Bitta Mostofi, a onetime senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President Joe Biden, to lead an audit of six municipal departments, including the New York Police Department, to determine whether they are fully complying with the citys expansive sanctuary policies.
As reported by Politico, the review is framed by City Hall as a defensive measure against what Mamdani characterizes as President Donald Trumps immigration crackdowns, and it stems from an executive order he signed earlier this month to further entrench sanctuary rules.
Mostofi has been installed as a special adviser to the deputy mayor and tasked with examining whether agencies are, in effect, doing enough to shield illegal immigrants from cooperation with federal authorities. The directive is for folks to recommend to the mayor changes to policies and protocols, and that can be everything from the process, to accountability, to transparency, and so forth, Mostofi said, outlining a mandate that could lead to sweeping internal changes across multiple departments.
She indicated that the tenure of former Mayor Eric Adams was a driving force behind her desire to probe city agencies, accusing his administration of weakening the sanctuary framework.
Mostofi told Politico that Adams undermined those laws, and she is now using her new role to revisit how deeply city workers are allowedor forbiddento cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Under Adams, the citys Department of Investigation found that employees at the NYPD and the Department of Correction, another agency now under Mostofis microscope, had violated sanctuary rules by sharing information about immigrants with federal officials.
Adams also attempted to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to establish an office on Rikers Island, a move that would have facilitated the transfer of criminal illegal aliens to federal custody but was ultimately blocked by the courts.
New Yorks sanctuary laws sharply restrict cooperation with ICE, barring city employees from permitting federal immigration officers onto municipal property, including public schools, unless they present a judicial warrant. Critics argue that such policies prioritize the comfort of illegal immigrants over the safety of law-abiding citizens, while supporters insist they are necessary to prevent deportations and maintain trust between immigrant communities and local government.
Mostofis audit will not be limited to law enforcement, extending instead across a broad swath of city bureaucracy that frequently intersects with immigration issues. She is also examining the departments of probation, social services, and health, as well as the Administration for Childrens Services, Politico reported, on the grounds that these agencies are among the most likely to interact with federal immigration authorities.
The Biden administrations own Department of Homeland Security has sharply criticized Mamdanis executive order, warning that it will make it harder to remove dangerous offenders from the streets.
Mamdani will make New Yorkers less safe as a direct result of this policy, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, underscoring a rare but telling clash between a progressive city hall and federal officials ostensibly on the same ideological side.
McLaughlin highlighted the scale of the problem facing federal authorities who are being actively walled off from local cooperation.
There are currently 7,113 criminal illegal aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer, she said, describing a population that ICE is seeking to take into federal custody before they are released back into the community.
She added that federal officials are urging Mamdani to reverse course and allow cooperation that would prevent repeat offenses by known criminals. Secretary [Kristi] Noem and ICE leadership are urgently calling on Mamdani to agree to release criminals in New York City's custody to ICE before they are released back onto the Big Apple's streets to victimize and prey on more Americans, McLaughlin added.
The DHS official warned that when local politicians block cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the result is not less enforcement but more visible and disruptive operations. When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities, she continued, suggesting that sanctuary policies may actually increase public tension and risk.
Once Mostofis audits are completed, the mayors office plans to use the findings to impose new training and compliance protocols across each agency. Politico reported that these changes are intended to strengthen sanctuary law compliance, signaling that the administrations goal is not balance between enforcement and compassion but a more rigid wall against federal immigration efforts.
Inside city government, not everyone is convinced this is a responsible use of resources or a wise direction for policy.
An official at one of the audited agencies questioned Mamdanis true objectives, saying, This recent executive order only raises more questions as to what specific policy the administration is pursuing and what the expectations are for the employees responsible for enforcing it, according to Politico.
For many conservatives, the episode illustrates a broader ideological divide over the basic obligations of government: whether leaders should prioritize the enforcement of immigration law and the protection of citizens, or the political demands of activist groups pushing sanctuary policies to their furthest extreme.
With a former Biden immigration official now empowered to police New Yorks own agencies for any hint of cooperation with ICE, and DHS warning that 7,113 criminal illegal aliens remain in local custody with active detainers, New Yorkers are left to weigh whether Mamdanis sanctuary-first agenda serves their safetyor sacrifices it on the altar of progressive politics.
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